Rihm wins Grawemeyer music prize

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Nov 30, 2014, 10:00 ET

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Nov. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "IN-SCHRIFT 2," an orchestral work that explores the boundaries of musical space, has earned German composer Wolfgang Rihm the 2015 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.

The 15-minute piece incorporates spatial effects and other inventive techniques to evoke a wide range of sound and emotion, said award director Marc Satterwhite.

The Berlin Philharmonic commissioned the work last year to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the opening of Philharmonie, the city's iconic concert hall. At the October 2013 premiere, Rihm stationed clarinetists and percussionists at different spots around the auditorium to give the audience a sense of hearing music both near and far away.

"The work evokes dark colors and uses mostly low instruments – no flutes, violins or violas, for example," Satterwhite said. "It begins and ends in quiet and mystery, taking many interesting paths along the way."

Rihm, 62, a professor at Germany's Karlsruhe University of Music, has been a composer-in-residence at music festivals in Lucerne and Salzburg. He has written more than 400 pieces in every classical musical genre, making him one of the most prolific composers of his generation.

Besides the Berlin Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, a wide variety of other orchestras have performed his works, including the Vienna Philharmonic, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam, New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra.

Universal Edition publishes his music.

In 2013, Rihm was promoted to the rank of commandeur in the Ordre des Arts and des Lettres, a French society honoring the world's most outstanding artists and writers. He also holds Germany's Distinguished Service Cross and Grand Cross of the Order of Merit with Star, the Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize, Prix de Composition and Musical de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco, Ernst von Siemens Music Award and Robert Schumann Prize for Poetry and Music.

Five Grawemeyer Award winners are being named this week. The university presents the prizes annually for outstanding works in music composition, ideas improving world order, psychology and education and gives a religion prize jointly with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

This year's awards are $100,000 each.

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SOURCE University of Louisville